Hot pursuit & high performance

Feature Article from Hemmings Muscle Machines

You'll find a feature on a cop car in this issue, and it isn't the first time. Probably won't be the last, either, and I suspect a lot of you will be happy to hear that. At first blush, police cars might seem a somewhat incongruous inclusion in a monthly dedicated to muscle cars. But as this is a magazine dedicated to American performance cars, police package models are actually a perfect fit, and that's probably why we get positive mail when we run them.

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The typical police package was developed with a short list of basic requirements: Each had to have the ability to accelerate quickly, cruise confidently at triple-digit speeds, handle corners with agility, decelerate quickly, and had to do all of these things repeatedly and reliably. Sounds like the perfect hot rod to me.
What always interested me most about these cars was their purposeful nature. They were seen as tools, pieces of equipment that had to do a particular job without fail. Any of the frilly bits that might add an element of additional comfort or convenience were out, as were any superfluous external touches that served appearance alone. Police cars were all business, and the core of their business was high performance.
I've been drawn to these models since I was a young kid, back in the '70s. I thought the big Dodge Polaras were tough and cool-looking, and the smaller B-body Mopars were pretty slick, too. I still remember the first time I noticed that a Dodge police car had slotted wheels that looked a little like mags. Even at 10 years old, it was obvious to me that these were a police-only item, along with the drilled hubcaps that seemed to accompany them. They made those cars look even beefier, which was probably also due to the increase in width.
When Elwood Blues explained to his brother why he had intentionally purchased a retired police cruiser, I thought we were kindred spirits. I was still just a pre-teen, but I already knew the appeal of even a beat-up highway patrol car--and as this was the early '80s, I also knew that the old cars were way better than what was coming out of Detroit at that moment.
Want more correlation between muscle cars and law enforcement packages? It seems pretty apparent to me that more than a few muscle cars were actually just tarted-up pursuit models. The most obvious of these is probably the original Plymouth Road Runner. Plymouth had been putting hi-po 383s in Belvederes for years prior to 1968, and those first 'Runners even had the "taxicab" interiors and poverty caps of their pursuit brethren. Take away the trick hood and add two more doors and you're pretty much back to cop spec.
Decades later, the cross-pollination was still occurring, and was largely responsible for the 1994-'96 Impala SS. Further evidence of this could be seen in the large numbers of retired Caprice cruisers that were converted into Impala clones with relative ease.
Naturally, feeling so powerfully drawn to these special purpose vehicles, I've had a couple of my own here and there. My first was an '88 Caprice with the 9C1 package, which is GM's production code for the police package. That one had a conventional 350 with a Quadrajet, a 700-R4 transmission, and a 3.42:1 rear axle with Positraction, plus the close-ratio steering, heavy springs and anti-roll bars, all sorts of fluid coolers and so on. Again, the parts list sounds like a street machine wish list. It was a fun car to drive, and even with well past 100,000 miles, it remained reliable.
Next, I stepped into what many consider one of the pinnacle cop cars of all time: a '96 Caprice 9C1 with the vaunted LT1, true dual exhaust and four-wheel disc brakes. With the increased power and vastly improved handling and braking, it was the perfect daily driver for running around Los Angeles; the push-bars and A-pillar spotlamp that remained probably gave me an edge in traffic, too.
I also owned another LT1 Caprice, a retired Colorado state trooper car that had then seen duty as a taxi, as so many retired police cruisers do. I bought it for parts and to use as a drivetrain donor for an older muscle car--there were so many swappable goodies there, it was like a "pro-touring" kit. With 285,000 miles showing on the clock and what appeared to be the original engine, that '94 9C1 would smoke the tires for the length of the parking lot at our old shop, a feat I was encouraged to perform when someone scoffed at my faith in the weathered unit's potential.
Today I am without a true police package, though my '96 Impala SS is a good substitute. Amid my wish list of cars to own are scattered police models, including one of those mid-'70s Mopar B-bodies with the last of the 440s. I'd still like another "square body" Caprice, a Special Service Package Mustang and maybe one of the last LS1-powered Camaro B4C pursuit cars--and then there are the current Dodge Chargers and Magnums that I'm probably going to want when they start hitting auctions.
I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on this, but I'd still like to hear from you. Got a cop car, or had one in your past? Maybe, like me, you're just lusting for one right now: Feel free to share that, too, but be specific so we can compare notes.

This article originally appeared in the December, 2008 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.